You should always have a business plan for everything that is done and this applies to forum marketing also. You can do many of the things that you want to do, but you have to understand exactly what you want done and how it can be achieved via forum marketing. Online marketers who become more successful than others approach their business in this manner. First, they take the time and learn about various marketing methods. Then this information is tweaked to find the best outcome.
Remember that your goal is to be viewed as an expert in your niche. It's important to build a good reputation in the forum. If you want to enjoy the best possible results this is a necessity for you. Of course, no one is going to recognize you if you aren't able to be seen first. But you're not interested in having your entire day spent on forums. After all, there are other things you need to do to market your business too.
You can annoy other forum members by making tons of posts in a short time, like in a few hours or so. Take a little time to see what time of day sees the greatest amount of traffic and limit your posting to those times. You can make half a dozen or so thoughtful posts answering questions or contributing something valuable.
What you need to do in any forum is mix things up which means a combination of posts and threads you start yourself. If you're new to forums or marketing in them, you may feel a little shy about starting threads. Think of something worthwhile you have to share and turn it into a thread. You can encourage people to reply with posts by asking questions.
Make a controversial statement if you're serious about inviting comments. Just be wary of crossing lines or coming across as uninformed and/or judgmental. One thing you don't want to do is start a thread that's off-topic for the forum or something ridiculous.
Take a little time to watch and figure out who's considered important on the forums before you even think about starting to network. You'll typically find there's really a handful of people who have this potential. There is some influence to this based on the sheer number of forum members too. The longer a forum has been around and the more members it has, the larger the pool of influence on why not find out more that forum is likely to be. It really will vary from one forum to the next-often the influence bringers are moderators. The 'leaders' are often the people that other members are always trying to get acknowledgment from. Once you know who these people are, then you can work to build a rapport with them. In conclusion, if you have spent time doing online marketing on forums, this is probably old news. You have to know how to operate on forums, following the rules, and conducting yourself in an appropriate manner. The key is to be a contributing community member that offers value everyday.